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MAHONING TWP. — An ambitious initiative to make Scranton the health and wellness model for the nation starts laying the groundwork next week for one of its first major endeavors.

Stakeholders in Geisinger Health’s Springboard Healthy Scranton initiative will meet Monday with leaders at the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Northeast Regional Food Bank as a first step in pulling together community partners for the Fresh Food Farmacy, a healthy food program for needy families.

The program likely will take 12 to 14 months to establish, said Springboard’s senior director Brian Ebersole, during an update event Wednesday on the initiative’s progress at the health system’s flagship medical center just outside Danville.

The update preceded Geisinger’s national symposium, a three-day event to bring together experts on health care policy, patient experience, wellness and technology.

The invitation-only symposium will draw high-profile figures including Gov. Tom Wolf; Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel, a health care advisor for former President Barack Obama who helped craft the Affordable Care Act; and former U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who are all slated to speak.

The Fresh Food Farmacy model has already taken root in Northumberland County, where one in three to one in four adults struggle with food insecurity, or uncertainty of whether they’ll have their next meal, said program founder Dr. Andrea Feinberg.

To qualify to receive meals, families must answer a simple question: “Do you run out of food at the end of the month and can’t replace it, or do you run out of money to by safe and nutritious food?” Feinberg said. “They never have to show anything to us.”

The program will focus on fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains — and how to prepare them. Feinberg was inspired in part to launch the food program after noting that intensive-care unit patients often had preventable, diet-related illnesses that spun out of control.

Springboard is designed to pull on the region’s robust network of nonprofit and other community organizations. Geisinger picked Scranton to serve as a proving ground because of its stable, yet diverse population with deep genealogical roots, among other factors.

“It’s large enough for us to test and prove innovative models of care, yet small enough that we can look at it as one population,” said Virginia McGregor, a Scranton native and Geisinger Health board member.

The afternoon update didn’t focus solely on Scranton. A number of officials with the health system and beyond touched on national and local issues including one of the most pressing: opioid drug addiction.

“Our goal is to put together the nation’s largest data set that’s ever been used for addressing the opioid crisis,” said Bruce Greenstein, chief technology officer with the U.S Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Secretary, in speaking about the nation’s fight against addiction. “And then, with humility, acknowledge that we don’t have all the answers and we need to reach out to those who have incredible skills and insights that maybe aren’t on our radar screen.”

Geisinger’s MyCode genetic research program could help play a role in building that database.

The program, which has signed on more than 173,000 participants and sequenced more than 90,000 DNA exomes, potentially could identify and proactively tend to mental illnesses that are commonly associated with drug addiction, said Vanessa Troiani, assistant professor at the Bucknell-Geisinger Autism and Developmental Medicine Institute and Geisinger’s policy and education director, Andy Faucett.

Springboard aims to improve city residents’ physical health, but also their financial stability, and that has the attention of the region’s business leaders.

“A healthier Scranton is a more economically sound Scranton,” said Bob Durkin, president of the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce. The chamber has been part of the Springboard conversation from its earliest days, and Durkin joined the crowd of about 100 people Wednesday for the update.

The nonprofit United Neighborhood Centers of Scranton also has a seat at the table.

“It’s really bringing a lot of players together, that haven’t been involved in the past, working together toward one goal,” UNC Executive Director Michael Hanley said of Springboard.

Health care reform shouldn’t start in Washington, D.C., insisted Dr. David T. Feinberg, chief executive officer and Dr. Andrea Feinberg’s husband, rather it should start in communities such as Scranton and Danville.

“Our plan is to make Scranton the healthiest place in America,” he said. “And then give away the playbook to the country.”

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